Anti-vaccination views linked to low confidence in the government: Study

A new study suggests that confidence in government may play a key role in the public’s willingness to get at least some vaccines.

The U.S. recorded 206,000 cases of diphtheria in 1921, resulting in 15,520 deaths.In the past decade, there were less than five cases of diphtheria in the U.S. reported to CDC.

The study re-analyzed national survey data from 2009 that examined Americans’ views on a then-new vaccine for the H1N1 virus – commonly known as swine flu.

Results showed that Republicans and independents were significantly less likely than Democrats to say they would get the vaccine. But it wasn’t their political affiliation itself that was driving Republican and independent views, said Kent Schwirian, professor of sociology at The Ohio State University.

“It’s not that Republicans reject vaccination because of their conservative views or exposure to certain media,” Schwirian said.

“It was their lack of confidence in the government to deal with the swine flu crisis that was driving their anti-vaccination views.”

The study found that people trusting the government’s ability to deal with the epidemic were almost three times more likely to take the vaccine than were others.

Schwirian conducted the study with Gustavo Mesch, a Ph.D. graduate of Ohio State who is now a professor of sociology and Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Haifa in Israel. Their results appear online in the journal Health Promotion International and will be published in a future print edition.